STATE HOUSE ROUNDUP -- Will anyone try to crash DeLeo's party?

Monday

Give up? Maybe that's because if this were a Massachusetts politics SAT question, it would be a trick.

While the North Shore Congressman is at the center of an internal party power struggle in Washington, it's much harder after 10 years to identify the leaders of any organized Democratic opposition to House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

DeLeo has detractors, to be sure. Some of them are even willing, from time to time, to speak up publicly. But even after the speaker couldn't protect his Ways and Means chairman from a primary challenger who campaigned against DeLeo the way Republicans campaign against Nancy Pelosi, the speaker's authority remains intact.

"Do you know of anyone running?" Rep. Denise Provost asked last week, answering a question with a question.

Provost is a veteran House Democrat who for years as a progressive on Beacon Hill has been on the outside of leadership looking in. Yet when asked if she would support a challenge to DeLeo or thought it was time for a change in leadership, she equivocated.

"It's a good question," she said. "It would depend on the particulars."

If someone's thinking of challenging DeLeo, even symbolically, they haven't stepped forward yet. But that hasn't stopped some incoming freshmen from speaking out.

Nika Elugardo, the aforementioned challenger who defeated Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Sanchez in the September primary, didn't criticize DeLeo directly post-election, but did call their party "straight-up racist."

Asked last week about Elugardo's comment, DeLeo detractor Rep. Russell Holmes said, "Finally people have arrived in the building that are clearly being directed by their district and not by what's in the best interest of the speaker. I wish we had that with all 127 members. I don't see that."

Holmes didn't agree with Elugardo's choice of he word "racist" to describe the Democratic Party, but did agree that for too long Democrats in Massachusetts have taken the black vote for granted.

"There's no vote less reliable than a white man's for the Democratic Party, and yet you want a white man to lead. Do I think it is racist? No. But it's been a good ol' boy network," the Roxbury Democrat said.

Meanwhile in Washington, Moulton worked overtime to marshal the forces of a new class of freshman Democrats to install new blood at the top of the party leadership ranks. Moulton is claiming a "silent majority" is opposed to Nancy Pelosi getting her hands on the gavel in the next Congress, but Pelosi had this to say about the Salem instigator, "I will be speaker of the House no matter what Seth Moulton says."

Bay State freshmen Ayanna Pressley and Lori Trahan are among those uncommitted.

The Democrats aren't the only party at a crossroads of sorts.

After losing ground (three seats) on Beacon Hill that Republicans can ill afford to lose, Massachusetts Republican Party Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes is thinking about whether she wants to pursue a fourth, two-year term.

Hughes has already lasted longer than most party leaders, and Rep. Geoff Diehl, who in less than two months will be losing his title, is potentially waiting in the wings. The Boston Globe reported that Diehl said he wants to know Hughes's plans before he decides whether to run for an open seat or challenge the party leader, but if he does, the question will immediately become whether there's room for a Trump Republican in the MassGOP leadership.

If Hughes decides to call it quits in January, Gov. Charlie Baker might have his own replacement in mind, and his imprint on the Republican State Committee that will choose has already been well established.

The governor, however, was not talking party politics last week. He was looking and think ahead to next year when he appears to be thinking a lot about the state's health care system. The governor said he hopes to get a feel for the "rhythm" of the session next year, and will either incorporate some health care system reforms in his fiscal 2020 budget proposal, or as standalone legislation.

It was the first real clue as to what second-term Charlie Baker really has on his to-do list out of the gate.

Leadership struggles in Congress should be resolved before the end of the month, while decisions on the speakership and committee positions on Beacon Hill won't be made until next year.

There are, of course, things that could be done in the interim. For instance, local officials made clear in their monthly meeting with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito that they would very much like to see the administration's housing production bill get passed in informal session.

The House and Senate, however, are having difficulty scheduling hearings that both say they want, let alone coming together to make policy decisions.

With the first flakes of the season flying Nov. 15 into the 16th, the situation in the Merrimack Valley only grews more dire. Winter isn't just coming. It's here. And yet there are still four weeks until the new deadline for all households in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover to be back with heat and cooking gas.

Columbia Gas, as of Nov. 16, said gas service had been restored to 56 percent of homes 73 percent of businesses. The company plans to have crews working through the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Beacon Hill, lawmakers appear to be feeling the gas pressure as well.

Senate President Karen Spilka's office announced last week that Sen. Michael Barrett would lead oversight hearings on the natural gas infrastructure and the Merrimack Valley disaster on Dec. 4 and Dec. 17.

The hearings were expected, but the announcement came a month after the Senate and the House announced jointly that they would be going down this road. The House, however, was not included in the Senate's declared plans last week, and Rep. Thomas Golden, who co-chairs the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee with Barrett, said that's because he's been trying to respect the wishes of local leaders like Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera.

Rivera and others, according to Golden, asked lawmakers after the explosions to keep their powder dry until all residents were back in their homes with full utilities. The Senate did not respond to questions about whether they were told the same thing, and if so why they feel the need to push forward now.

While some Merrimack Valley oversight hearings are now scheduled, but ill defined, the Senate last week did admit a very specific Rep. Jim O'Day bill that would put added pressure on National Grid to end its lockout of gas workers. Golden wants to have a hearing on the bill before Thanksgiving, but so far a date hasn't been locked down. The bill was filed in July.

Meanwhile, the cause of the Columbia Gas disaster is closer to being nailed down. The National Transportation Safety Board, in part, blamed an inexperienced engineer for putting together a work plan that didn't recognize the importance of keeping close tabs on pressure in the lines.